


Ground Me

by vassalady



Category: Captain America (Movies)
Genre: Bondage, Comfort, F/M, Non-Sexual Bondage, Non-Sexual Submission, Pre-Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Sub Steve Rogers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-11-29
Updated: 2014-11-29
Packaged: 2018-02-27 10:37:35
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,461
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2689691
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/vassalady/pseuds/vassalady
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When Steve needs to let go, he goes to Natasha, who takes care of him.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Ground Me

**Author's Note:**

> I needed something just… delicate and touching, but also something not about sex, for once, and I hadn’t tried my hand at this yet, non-sexual kink, and so I wrote this, and everything felt so right at the time, and I felt good about it. (Considering a Sam and Steve follow up one day, but no guarantees.)

Sometimes things get too noisy in Steve’s head. That’s when he goes to Natasha. When she answers her door, she doesn’t invite him in. She says he needs to use his words, that she can’t guess at what Steve wants. That that’s part of the problem.

“I need help,” he says, the words thick in his mouth even after all this time.

Natasha smiles gently at him and steps aside.

“Sit on the floor, on your knees, palms resting face up,” she tells him. He sinks down, the plush carpet enough of a cushion, and rests his hands face up on his thighs. “Good boy,” she says as she strokes his hair.

She takes out the ropes and the cuffs and lays them in front of Steve. She squats down so that she’s on his level, and she makes him look her in the eye as she says, “I’m not going to bind you yet. I’m going to make sure you’re ready first.”

Steve wants to say he is ready, that he needs and wants it now, but that’s not what he came here for. He came here to let go, and to do that, Natasha decides what happens when.

She’s gone for just a moment, disappearing into the kitchen. He can hear the microwave going. He watches her go to the stereo, where she selects something to play. It’s a movie soundtrack, he thinks, though he doesn’t know which one. The music is soft and gentle, and he feels it wrap around him as it fills the apartment.

Natasha goes to the kitchen again, and she returns with a tray. On the tray is a plate of noodles, a bowl of soup, some crackers, and a tall glass of water. She puts the whole thing down on her coffee table and takes the water.

“Drink this,” she says, putting it to his lips.

Steve drinks it down, Natasha carefully holding the glass and tipping it farther and farther up. The water is refreshing, and when it’s gone, she goes and gets another glass. This time, she sets it aside.

“The noodles are good cold, but you’ll eat the soup now.”

She feeds him the soup, spoonful by spoonful. He’s still on his knees, hands resting on his thighs, because she didn’t say he could move. It’s not uncomfortable, just a little strange. It’s not how he normally would sit after all.

The soup is tomato, and it’s good. It warms his belly, and he finds himself licking his lips when he’s done. Natasha sets the bowl down and picks up Steve’s left arm. She begins to massage his hand, carefully stretching his fingers and gently kneading his palm. She moves to his wrist, gently turning it this way and that. She does this all up his arm, moving each joint carefully and massaging the muscles and skin. Her touch is warm, and Steve feels his body relax under it.

When she is done with one arm, she does the same to the second. Then she bends him forward, works at his back, before bending him backward and touching his front. She has him lay on his back so that she can work his legs as well, and, at last, he takes his head in her lap and gently turns it side to side, pushes it down and up. She knows exactly how much pressure to apply so that she doesn’t hurt Steve, but still makes it a bit of a stretch.

She finishes by rubbing his face, loosening the tension there.

“Okay,” she tells him, “undress and we can start.”

Steve doesn’t feel embarrassed at exposing his body. He does it because she tells him to. She once told him she didn’t want him wearing anything he had picked out himself. Under her control, he has no choice, and that means he has to be left naked.

She wraps the rope around him, binding his arms together, and his arms to his chest. She binds his legs so that they are bent at the knee and tied together. She runs the rope between his handcuffs and the rope around his feet, and he’s left sitting up on his knees again, but this time, stiff and unable to move. 

He sighs. It feels good.

She feeds him the crackers and gives him more water. Then she takes out a blindfold.

She wraps it around his eyes, and within a minute, his hearing sharpens. Her breathing grows louder; he can hear her walk across the floor. He smells something, and he realizes after a moment it’s the noodles. They smell good.

He hears the scrape of a chair. He feels Natasha sit beside him. Her hands gently touch his cheek before moving up to his hair. He sighs again as she begins to comb it.

She talks, sometimes in English, sometimes in Russian, and it’s all chatter. He needs to brush up on his Russian, but he can understand her for the most part. She tells jokes he doesn’t get, and she’ll talk about movies she’s seen and books she’s read. Very occasionally, and only in Russian, she’ll mention something that has to do with a childhood memory.

Steve knows she does, but when it’s all over, he can’t remember anything specific. He can hardly remember anything she said at all.

The comb feels nice, even with his hair as short as it is. She abandons it after awhile (Steve can’t guess at how long it has been,) and then keeps talking while petting him. 

He feels just the starting hints of strain when she unties him.

She repeats her full body massage, but she spends a lot longer doing it this time. Steve feels completely loose when she’s done, and he just wants to continue laying on the floor. Natasha lets him for a few moments, hand resting lightly on his chest. But then she says, “You’re going to stay the night.”

It’s not often that she has him stay, but he’s grateful when she does.

Still naked, he sits as she feeds him the noodles. They slip across his tongue, and he thinks they’re sesame. They taste heavenly. When they are all gone, Natasha wipes at his mouth (they weren’t the easiest food to be fed). Then she makes him take a bath.

He washes his own body, but she tells him how to do it as if he doesn’t know how. She washes his hair though, sleeves rolled up and hands massaging in first the shampoo and then the conditioner. He doesn’t need the conditioner, but he’s glad she uses it, because the smooth slide of her fingers over his head feels comforting.

She dries him off and then leads him back into the living room. He sits quietly on the floor as she makes up the couch, first a sheet he can lie on even naked as he is, and then the rest of the bedding on top of that.

She stands in front of him, stroking the space just behind his ears, as she says, “You’ve been a good boy. For that, I’m going to give you a treat.”

The treat is ice cream, and it’s cold and refreshing. Natasha takes a few bites herself, but she feeds most of the pint to Steve. When he’s done, he feels satisfied. Not stuffed, but there’s a pleasant fullness in his belly. 

He relieves himself, and then she brushes his teeth for him, before settling him into bed. She sits on the arm of the couch right by his head, her hand resting lightly by his head. She puts on a movie, but he doesn’t fall asleep during it. She notices, tsks, and then strokes his head once more.

“Sleep,” she says, and it’s with that command that Steve lets his eyes drift shut. Everything is quiet.

In the morning, when he wakes up, he puts his clothes back on (freshly washed, he notices,) and goes to the kitchen. Natasha’s making herself breakfast, and she smiles when she sees him. “So what do you want? I’ve got some cereal left, some oatmeal… Toast. Fresh out of eggs and bacon, though.”

Steve opts for cereal, and as they eat, they chat lightly. Steve has to head back home before heading off to SHIELD. Before he goes, though, he tells Natasha, “Thank you.”

“Anytime.”

The noise was gone last night. It stays at a low murmur for the whole day, and he hopes it’ll keep at bay for a long time now.

But he knows, when it gets too loud, Natasha is there for him. She may not be open with him, but he trusts her to help him when he needs it with a strong rope and a gentle touch.


End file.
